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Early Voting Begins in Georgia; Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Stops Town Hall Early When Audience Member Requires Medical Attention; Former Atlanta Mayor and Harris-Walz Campaign Adviser Keisha Lance Bottom Interviewed on Kamala Harris's Comments Regarding Black Male Voters; Nearly 200,000 Without Power Almost a Week After Hurricane Milton; Harris Gaining Support from White Women with Three Weeks to Go. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired October 15, 2024 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:00:00]

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: So it will be cold for the next couple of days for those without electricity still and without power. So this is the 50 million Americans under some sort of weather alert, being a cold weather alert. And these temperatures are more typical towards mid to end November. So Asheville's high today, 57, that is the average for November 23rd. Very similar type weather pattern along the eastern seaboard, New York, all the way to Atlanta.

The cold weather is here through the rest of the workweek, but then we see the temperatures moderate to near normal conditions for the rest of the country. But we'll feel this weather all the way to the Gulf Coast. So we're going to feel temperatures well below average across the Florida peninsula for instance. And this is a 21 degree temperature change, kind of a sucker punch in Houston compared to yesterday.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: I would say so, definitely. Good to see you, Derek. Thank you so much.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: It has begun. Early voting underway in Georgia. We are now exactly three weeks until Election Day. Kamala Harris changing tack, replacing joy with attacks on Donald Trump's dark rhetoric while Trumps spent much of his town hall dancing.

The road to recovery continues in Florida. Power and gas its outages are decreasing, but FEMA is trying to get back out in Rutherford County, North Carolina, after a man was arrested for allegedly making threats against agency employees trying to help people there.

And North Carolina blowing up -- sorry, North Korea blowing up two major roads near the border with South Korea after Pyongyang warned it would take steps to completely cut ties.

I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, early voting just began in Georgia after one of the most notable and, honestly, strange stretches of the campaign we have seen. A Trump town hall that essentially just stopped in the middle with him playing music and dancing on stage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Go and vote. Let me hear that music, please. Let me hear that music.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone, let's thank President Trump.

TRUMP: Loud, nice and loud.

(MUSIC)

TRUMP: So play "YMCA." Go ahead. Let's go. Nice and loud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So after this Vice President Harris tweeted, "Hope he is OK."

Now this came after onstage Harris for the first time played a video of Donald Trump right before she called him unstable and unhinged. Let's start with CNN's Steve Contorno who can tell us what happened at this Trump event in what he's going to do next.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Let me try to explain, John. It was certainly one of the more unusual Trump events. But what transpired was a couple of people in the audience had medical episode. And I can tell you having covered many, many Trump events over the years, that happens relatively often at his events. These people are often waiting for hours and hours outside in the elements. They tend to be a little bit older, and often they have issues with the heat or with dehydration at his events.

I'm not sure exactly what happened here, but just to give you some context of what has happened in the past. So when one of these individuals required attention, Trump stopped the event, asked for music to be played, and then just sort of stopped the rest of the program. He had only taken about four questions in what was supposed to be a town hall, and instead it was just him on stage requesting various songs to be played and dancing for over half an hour before eventually just ending the event entirely.

And when our Kate Sullivan asked the Trump campaign what exactly happened there, the only response she received was, quote, he's here for the people. Just an unconventional event for a candidate who has had many of those, and that continues today where he'll be in Chicago giving any event to the economic club here, another stop in a blue state after his events in California and also going to New York. None of these states are going to vote for Trump, but he continues to make visits to these blue parts of the country leading up to Election Day, John.

BERMAN: All right, Steve Contorno, thank you for explaining that. I do understand the medical emergency. It's still unclear why he didn't start taking questions again, but maybe we'll find out as the day continues.

I want to bring in Isaac Dovere covering the Harris campaign. And Isaac, we did here sure and see something new from Harris on the trail overnight, really leaning into this idea that Donald Trump is unhinged, unstable, and to an extent, weak.

[08:05:05]

ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, and it plays into something that she has been talking about since over the weekend when she released her medical records, called on Donald Trump to do the same, as he has not, and calling attention to things that he has been saying with this idea that he is not up to the job, that he's not stable, that he won't debate her, that he won't even do the interview with "60 Minutes."

But as you say, it did seem -- it was a little different last night the way that she did it. So let's take a look at what she did at this rally in Erie, Pennsylvania.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will show you one example of Donald Trump's worldview and intentions. Please roll the clip.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: The worst people are the enemies from within.

I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think they're the -- and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military.

(BOOS)

HARRIS: So you heard his words, you heard his words coming from him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOVERE: And those are what Donald Trump has said in the last couple days. But if you go back to when he was president during the George Floyd protests, we know that he wanted to deploy the National Guard and the military to take on some of what was going on then, and that he was refused by some military leaders, including General Mark Milley at the time.

So this is how Trump is talking now. It is also reflective of his view of how things should work, it does seem. And Harris is trying to call attention to that, saying this is not what America should have. We'll see how much she continues to push that case as she today is in Michigan talking about what she wants to do for black men, but also making a larger case to voters overall in these final three weeks, that a Trump presidency, she says, is not something that we should have back, and that Americans should want to have back in America.

BERMAN: Yes, very curious if she does more with this as the day continues, or whether it's something she will turn from. Isaac Dovere, thank you so much reporting on this. Our thanks to Steve as well. Sara?

SIDNER: All right, to continue this conversation, joining me now, the former mayor of Atlanta and senior adviser to the Harris-Walz campaign, Keisha Lance Bottoms. Thank you so much for being here this morning. We were just listening to Kamala Harris, and it does appear that she's gone from focusing on joy to on the attack against Donald Trump, being very pointed with her words. Is this something that we can expect to hear for the next three weeks before the election?

KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS, (D) SENIOR ADVISER, HARRIS-WALZ CAMPAIGN: The Vice President is going to continue to remind people of who Donald Trump is. And that means that she will continue to be forceful. What I love most is that we are really giving to see vice president's personality. She is spicy. She fights for us, and she has taken it directly to the bully on the playground. And that bully is Donald Trump.

SIDNER: She's certainly using some of her prosecutorial skills there on the stage, and we see that pretty clearly. The wall street journal just came out with a new poll of registered voters in Georgia, your state. And Harris has the slightest of edges there. What are you seeing and hearing in Georgia? What gives you hope for Harris? There's the numbers, 46 percent to 45, a virtual tie because the margin of error is plus or minus four points. What are you seeing and hearing in Georgia? What gives you hope for Harris winning Georgia, and what gives you some serious concern?

BOTTOMS: Well, we know in 2020 all eyes were on Georgia with less than 12,000 people making the difference in that election. We've got early voting starting today. I'm excited to go and early vote. In in my case, my early voting precinct is closer than my regular precinct, so it's very convenient.

So what we are seeing are people are excited. They are ready to go and cast their vote and to make a difference. People are anxious because this is a very close race, and it's going to be a turnout game, making sure that people are still reminded of the importance of this election, the difference that Georgia made in 2020, the difference that Georgia made in sending two senators to the nation's capital. So Georgia is at the center of attention, and wed know what's at stake here.

And the thing that I would just remind people across the state of Georgia as the turn out to early vote, don't get excited about early voting turnout rates, because what tends to happen and what we've seen happen, we'll see one party have a surge in early voting and get overtaken on Election Day. Thats happened to Democrats before in this state. So we've just got to keep pushing through Election Day.

[08:10:00] SIDNER: There are some new regulations, new rules when it comes to voting in Georgia, and I just want to go over a few of them. Fewer 24/7 drop boxes will be available to people. It is now considered a crime to offer food or water to people within 150 feet of a building where ballots are being cast, so you can't hand people water if there are long lines where there are expected to be. And then the Georgia state election board passed a rule requiring a hand-count of the number of ballots at each voting location, and new rules require county officials to conduct a reasonable inquiry before they certify results. How do you think these new rules might impact the election there in Georgia?

BOTTOMS: This is a disaster. In 2020 nearly 5 million people cast votes in Georgia, and so to expect election workers to stand there and count these ballots by hand is absolutely ridiculous. We have seen Republican leaders in the state called this out, even the Republican chair of the election board has said it's inappropriate, and that the election board has gone too far, that they should be helping people to understand the law, not attempting to make the law.

And what's happened is that Donald Trump has praised this election board. They've shown up at his rallies, and they are -- they're doing these insane things to impress this man. And it can create chaos in the state. But what I would say to voters across the state, we don't want thin margins in the state. We want to make sure that turnout on our side is so strong that there won't be any question about who the winner is in this race. And we want to make sure that we vote early. We want to make sure we vote on Election Day and we keep pushing through to elect Kamala Harris president.

SIDNER: You talked about the margins and the concern about how close this race might be. Harris has been doing interviews with black media outlets. She's going to be on with Charlamagne tha God today. She talked to Roland Martin yesterday. And I want to play a clip for you where she's talking to the online media site "The Shade Room," where she's asked about polling showing that fewer black man are planning to vote for her than past Democratic presidential candidates who came before her. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Let's be clear that your underlying premise is not an assumption that I'm supposed to have black men in my back pocket in terms of their vote, and that I should be, I should be taking that for granted, because I don't. Black men are no different from anybody else. They expect that you have to earn their vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Do you have concerns about the black male vote, which in polling has shown it is slipping?

BOTTOMS: I'm concerned about turnout out, period. and what I know from having young people in my household is that Donald Trump has been in their social media feeds for the past four years with a lot of misinformation and disinformation, not just targeting President Biden, but also the vice president. One of my kids told me just yesterday that every single thing he watches on YouTube, that there is a Donald Trump commercial that you can't skip that speaks poorly of Kamala Harris. So this is a concern, misinformation and disinformation in general.

But the vice president is spot on. We can't take black man for granted. We can't take any constituency for granted. And what I expect to see over the next few weeks, we're going to continue to see the vice president talk about the policies that she will roll out, those policies that she has supported as a part of the administration, those policies that have directly impacted African American men in this country. They are an important constituency, and they have a right to question who is going to be the best candidate for them.

And I believe that once they receive this accurate information, continue to receive this information from trusted sources, that the choice will be clear, and that choice will be Kamala Harris.

And also reminding people to vote down-ballot. There are important issues at stake. We know that if Donald Trump is reelected, he very likely will have the opportunity to appoint one if not two justices to the Supreme Court. These decisions that are directly impacting our communities. It's important that we, that we make sure our voices are heard, African American men and beyond.

SIDNER: Keisha Lance Bottoms, thank you so much for taking the time this morning with us. Appreciate you.

Kate?

BOLDUAN: Nearly 200,000 are still without power in Florida after hurricane Milton, and hundreds of gas stations are still without fuel. The new efforts to get this help to these residents and why it is taking so long.

[08:15:00]

And a big blast with big political implications. The new extreme measures that North Korea is taking to completely cut ties with South Korea.

And you can call it the attack of the runaway pumpkin. How attack -- oh, there we are showing you -- attack an unsuspecting police officer who was called in to help. We will be right back.

(ANNOUNCEMENTS)

[08:20:01]

BOLDUAN: In Florida, nearly 200,000 customers still without power, almost a week after Hurricane Milton hit. People there are also still facing fuel shortages. Hundreds of gas stations are still without fuel, without gas, including roughly half the stations in the Tampa Bay area, which of course was one of the hardest hit by Milton.

CNN's Carlos Suarez is live in Miami for us. Carlos, what is the situation with this today?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, good morning.

So of course, this recovery and the rebuilding effort is going to take months, if not years.

In the short-term, the focus has been on getting the power back on, water running, and then trying to reopen some schools. As of this morning, about 196,000 people are without electricity. That number is according to PowerOutage.us.

Of course, the largest concentration of those outages remain in the Hillsborough County area. The school district there hopes to welcome back students tomorrow.

Now, on the long term, the recovery effort, of course, remains removing all of the debris from Hurricane Milton and Helene and of course, making sure so that people have all of the state and the federal relief that is available to them.

Yesterday, emergency officials here in Florida, they underscored that point, reminding folks that when they apply for FEMA disaster funds, they have to apply for each hurricane that has hit the area in the last several weeks. They have to do two applications here.

Here now is Governor DeSantis on just how challenging things have been for recovery crews.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Two have two in two weeks is quite a challenge and I think that not only does that mean you've got to prepare for two, respond to two. A lot of the people that are -- whether, it is the folks locally responding, whether it is our State Emergency Management team, all levels this is -- they've been going at this now for over three weeks.

I mean, this has just been nonstop, 24/7.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUAREZ: As you noted, gas in the Tampa area is still an issue with nearly half of gas stations without a supply, though state officials believe that that number is going to improve throughout the week.

Kate, again, a lot of this is going to take some time.

I was in Fort Myers Beach after Hurricane Milton and some folks there are still rebuilding after Hurricane Ian hit that part of Southwest Florida two years ago.

BOLDUAN: Oh wow. Yes. The talk about some perspective and some context about what they're up against.

They are also recovering in North Carolina from Helene still, and the FEMA recovery efforts there were halted for a period of time because aid workers were facing threats and now a man has been arrested for these threats.

What are you learning about him?

SUAREZ: Yes, Kate, so that threat forced FEMA officials to essentially pull back on going door-to-door so that they could check on folks.

This 44-year-old we know was found with a handgun and a rifle according to authorities at a supermarket where a federal aid vehicle was parked.

Now as a result of his arrest, North Carolina's governor directed that public safety officials essentially coordinate with law enforcement and FEMA to make sure that FEMA teams are safe as they go about their process.

It is important to note here, Kate, that FEMA said that although it made some options relational changes, it did not impact their overall ongoing search and rescue efforts -- Kate.

SUAREZ: Carlos, thank you very much -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, US troops and advanced air defense system components are arriving in Israel. What The Pentagon is saying as Israel shares more details on a likely counterstrike on Iran.

Plus, "a fascist to his core." The stark warning and direct quote in veteran journalist, Bob Woodward's new book on Donald Trump.

Those stories and more, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, this election is close. Everyone knows that, but what might be most notable about 2024 are the structural shifts that we might be seeing in the electorate. Who generally votes for Democrats? Who generally votes for Republicans? It might all be changing.

Here to explain what we are seeing, CNN senior data reporter, Harry Enten.

Look, we've been talking about Black voters in the last few days and some shifts there, but there are significant shifts that benefit Vice President Harris when it comes to women.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes. I think that's exactly right.

So you know, if you look, is Harris doing better than Biden in 2020? White men, she is not. Women of color, she is not. Men of color, she is not. But among White women, in fact, she is. In fact, it is to a historic degree.

So let's take a look here. The GOP's margin among White women. Look, Romney won them by nine, all right? Trump in 2016 won them by six. You go back four years ago. Trump won them by seven.

Look now, look how much lower Trump's margin is among White women. Look, he still leads, but it is well within the margin of error. It is just the point.

He is doing six points worse than he did four years ago. In fact, he is doing the worst if this holds for a GOP candidate, this century among White women -- John.

BERMAN: Well, how much do White women matter in the electorate?

ENTEN: Yes, so this is the whole thing, right? How much do they matter? If you were to break it down, White women, White men, women of color, men of color. White women make up the plurality of the electorate, 36 percent.

So you know, yesterday we were talking about those massive gains that Donald Trump was making among Black men, Black women. But the bottom line is, they actually make up a considerably smaller portion of the electorate than White women do.

So when we are talking about five, six-point shifts, seven-point shifts in Kamala Harris' direction, we are talking about that among a major part of the electorate and that can actually move the overall electorate more than ginormous shifts among a considerably smaller part of the electorate -- John.

BERMAN: You do the math, more than double the impact depending on how it all spaces itself out. Why?

ENTEN: Why? Why? Why? Why?

I think that this gets at a pretty good reason why. All right, abortion is the top voting issue. We are going to look at Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, on average where 80 percent or north of the voters are White. Look at this. The percentage of women who say that abortion is the top voting issue come November, 27 percent. Look at this gender gap. Among men in those states, it is just seven percent.

[08:30:38]